Cohort and prejudice: Whites’ attitudes toward Blacks

Abstract Recent cohorts have been shown to be less prejudiced than their elders, at least toward blacks. This study addresses two questions: Has this tendency continued among most-recent cohorts of adults? and Does it extend to prejudice toward other ethnic minorities? Using data from a national sample, I focus on stereotype and social distance attitudes pertaining to blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and Jews. In general, results indicate that cohorts born after World War II tend to be less prejudiced than prewar cohorts toward each of the four minorities. But most-recent cohorts of Americans show no tendency to be less preju-diced than their immediate predecessors born since World War II, and most-recent cohorts residing outside of the South actually tend to be more prejudiced than their elders. Past research shows that younger cohorts of adults are less prejudiced, a cause for optimism about the future of intergroup relations. As more recent, less prejudiced cohorts replace earlier, more prejudiced co-horts, overall prejudice levels will decline. But the conservative shift in America during the 1980s considered in light of Mannheim's ([1928] 1952) theory of generations, along with recent findings showing that cohorts most recently come of age are no less prejudiced than their predecessors, supports a more pessimistic view. Following a review of this material, I present a new study of cohort and prejudice toward four minority groups: blacks, Jews, Hispanics, and Asians. Results provide no evidence of a general tendency for most-recent cohorts to be less prejudiced, and little reason for opti-mism about future declines in prejudice resulting from cohort succes-sion